Heat big man Hassan Whiteside still appears to be upset about his playing time, and the issue doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.
Whiteside has averaged only 25.3 minutes per game this season, and it sure looks like the team is preparing to move on from him next year.
Still, it’s the playoffs, and one would think Whiteside would be getting a lot of playing time, especially now that he’s matched up against Joel Embiid.
The thing is that he’s actually been playing less than he usually does. Whiteside played only 13 minutes in Thursday’s 128-108 loss, and that’s after playing 15 and 12 minutes respectively in the other two games.
He didn’t go quietly into the good night afterward, either. Whiteside was critical of head coach Erik Spoelstra after the game.
“I feel like our offense is a lot different,” he said, via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “I’m not as involved in as many dribble handoffs as I was and postups as I was in the regular season. That’s what coach wants.”
He continued:
“Coach wants me to just be in the corner and set picks,” Whiteside said. “That’s what he wants. I’ve just got to trust it.”
It’s fair to criticize Spoelstra for the way he’s used Whiteside on some level. However, we don’t know whether or not the front office is the one pulling the strings there, so it’s unfair to place all the blame on Spo, at least at this time.
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